The UK government has changed the funding package for the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Aberdeenshire. A planned 200 million pound grant will now be offered as loans or an equity stake, according to the Treasury. First Minister John Swinney said the shift creates more risk and uncertainty for a project he calls central to Scotland's climate action and reindustrialisation. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says Acorn will keep its existing grant funding until the end of the year, with future support tied to a taxpayer return. The change has drawn criticism because it alters the project's financial structure after planning was already underway. For anyone tracking CCS deployment, the key question is whether the new terms still allow Acorn to reach a final investment decision on schedule.
